We often blame technology and our smartphones for distracting us from our day-to-day duties. But the truth is, there are tons of productivity apps that can actually help us save time instead of wasting it.Whether you’re struggling to meet deadlines or keep track of your bills, there’s an app to help you deal with everything and anything. So put away the candy crush, and check out these 10 productivity apps that will help you work smarter, not harder.

Productivity Apps For Focus

Forest – available for iOS and Android

This application has carried me through multiple major exams and would be perfect for students who struggle with getting distracted by anything on your phones.

To keep you away from your phone just plant a seed in Forestand lock your phone. As time goes by (you can adjust the duration), this seed will grow into a tree. However, if you succumb to using your phone, the tree will wither! It also allows you to accumulate all the trees you’ve planted, which can turn into a little competition with your friends to see who plants more trees, or manages to stay focused for a longer period of time!

Furthermore, Forest has partnered up with Trees for the Future, a real tree-planting organisation. When you accumulate a certain amount of coins after planting trees on the app, you can choose to spend your coins on planting a real tree!

Freedom – available for Mac, Windows and iOS

If you often find yourself getting distracted by websites such as Youtube and Facebook while at work or school, this application can help you curb your browsing habit. Freedomallows users to create a customised list of websites we wish to block for a certain chosen duration, forcing us to focus on our to-do lists!

Productivity Apps For Money Management

Monny – available for iOS

I first got introduced to this app by a friend about 3 years ago, and I’ve been using it since. What Monny does is that it acts as a savings journal by helping you keep track of your expenditures. It helps to categorise your spendings and produces an easy to understand report inform you of where most of your spending goes.

Style Theory – available for Mac, Windows and iOS

This next one is perfect for impulsive shoppers, recovering clothes hoarders, or people who want to experiment with different styles. If you can relate to this, you may want to try out Style Theory.

It’s a clothing rental service that helps you save money and avoid the consequences of impulsive shopping. This application/website offers more than 16,000 clothing pieces to choose from, essentially providing you with an infinite wardrobe.

Just pick 3 available clothing items on the application or website, and they’ll be shipped to your doorstep. You can wear these outfits for as long as you like and can return them when you are ready to pick your next 3 pieces. This gives you the ability to spend less and wear more at $99.00 for your first month and $129.00 for subsequent months.

Productivity Apps For Health & Wellness

Tide – available for iOS and Android

Tide is the perfect relaxation app for de-stressing, meditating, or even focusing on a certain task at hand. The application helps you set a serene mood with a variety of sounds from nature such as forests, cafes, rain and so on, for you to play for as long or short as you like.

Seven: 7 Minute Workout – available for iOS and Android

Seven is great for people who want to get fit but struggle with time constraints, or gym fees. This app helps you personalise various 7-minute workout plans for you to work out anywhere and anytime, without any gym equipment.

While 7 minutes may seem like nothing, these exercises will whip you into shape (or leave you breathless like me) with consecutive high-intensity exercises like crunches, wall sits and push-ups, guaranteed to challenge your body.

Clue – Period and Health Tracker – available for iOS and Android

When my friends recommended I try this app, I was a little sceptical because most period tracking apps never caught on for me. But Clue has become a huge part of my monthly routine now!

It’s is perfect for tracking and predicting your period, health, mood cycles and 28 other aspects of your life. It also provides you with personalised reminders about your period, PMS, ovulation, and fertility. A plus point for this app is the cute and fun interface which makes period tracking a little more enjoyable.

Productivity Apps For Task Management

PayNow – available for iOS and Android on your respective bank’s app

If you’ve never heard ofPayNow, you have to try it out right now. This function makes transferring funds and splitting bills so easy! It allows you to transfer exactamounts to anyone who has an iBanking app on their phone, using the recipient’s phone or NRIC number.

Camscanner – available for iOS and Android

The very idea of waiting for my printer to turn on while hoping everything is well-aligned when scanned just puts me off. So you could imagine why discovering Camscanner was huge for me.

It’s basically a mobile scanner which allows you to scan, save, upload and archive documents using your phone (which means you can do this on the go!). With this, we can now say goodbye to the tedious process of scanning! And don’t worry about image quality, Camscanner mimics the exact function of a scanner to produce flawless copies each time!

Trello – available for iOS and Android

Trello is a project management application that makes collaborations easy, and is a lifesaver for students and working adults!

The app allows you to create boards to organise anything that you’re working on, invite co-workers to collaborate on projects and even customise workflows for different projects. There are countless useful functions of this application, you just have to try it to experience how life-changing it is!

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While apps tend to get a bad rep, it’s all about the way we choose to use them. So make a switch to more productive apps today! If you’ve got any app recommendations, let us know in the comments, we’d love to get more productive too!

Hey, I'm Steph! I devote my life to my guinea pigs, Soy and Bean, and I wish I could take them with me everywhere I go. My other hobbies include hand embroidery and floral arrangement. I'm also a huge sleep procrastinator and I often find myself wide awake at 4 am watching trashy reality tv shows.